Details of another hack are at the heart of U.S. Steel‘s section 337 complaint, including what it calls theft of lucrative automotive alloy Dual-Phase 980. Chinese commodity futures trading volumes are hitting records despite attempts by regulators there to rein in speculation.

U.S. Steel Alleges Dual-Phase 980 Stolen by China

According to filings with the International Trade Commission, U.S. Steel claims a forensic analysis into an alleged 2011 illegal hack of its systems by culprits based in China — one that used a similar method as the confirmed 2014 hack of U.S. Steel and other companies by the Chinese military — included stealing plans for the chemistry for an automotive specialty steel alloy and its coating, the necessary temperature for heating and cooling the metal and the proper layout of its production lines.

The automotive steel is one of U.S. Steel’s most popular products, Dual-Phase 980, that can withstand more than 140,000 lbs. per square inch, making it a light, strong metal coveted in the lucrative automotive market for its safety as well as its ability to meet government weight standards.

Two years after the 2011 hacking, China’s Baosteel Group, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, started selling a new line of products that included Dual-Phase 980. U.S. Steel says it can prove to the ITC that the product was stolen in the 2011 hack.

Big bets on Chinese commodities futures this year from hedge funds, retail investors and others have driven up contracts on everything from iron ore to cotton, prompting many analysts to warn of parallels with a boom in China’s stock markets that ended in a sharp crash last summer.

Rebar, a construction steel product, also posted its biggest monthly rise ever, with volumes in the most-traded contract in Shanghai hitting a record 1.4 billion metric tons, enough to build San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge more than 15,000 times over.